Gratitude
by Annitha
Summary: -EDIT- Shortly after 'Meeting with the Black Organisation', Conan and Ai muse over their last adventure.


Gratitude

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Detective Conan... although I wish I did.

EDIT: All corrections have been made, I hope.

_**Gratitude**_

Ai Haibara was getting to the kitchen, hoping that Professor was busy doing something in the lab. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He was at the kitchen table, reading what looked like a cooking book.

"Ai-kun!" the old scientist exclaimed as she appeared at the door frame, "What are you doing? You should be resting, not going around in your conditions!"

"I just wanted a glass of water, Agase." the girl remarked coolly, "And honestly, I don't think that moving a bit will hurt me."

"You could have called me." he said, filling a glass with water, "Here, take it. And then, go and rest in your room."

Knowing that retorting was perfectly useless, Ai nodded. She emptied the glass, left it on the table and then reluctantly headed to her room, balancing herself on the crutches. Once inside the room, she locked the door behind her and sat on the bed, leaving the crutches leaning on the chair.

_A week.._

A week had passed since her encounter with Gin and Vodka at the Beika Hotel. A week since she had narrowly escaped death. The little girl got up, wincing slightly as her injuries hurt her at the sudden movement and walked to the wardrobe, opening the door and faced the mirror. A seven year old girl with reddish blonde hair and light blue eyes stared back colourlessly. She was heavily bandaged: a bullet had grazed her cheek, another her shoulder, she had been hit at the thigh and at the other shoulder. Not to mention the number of bruises she had gotten during her fall through the roof.

A smirk appeared on her face when she thought that the two men, especially the white-blonde haired one, must have had the time of their lives to get her into this state and must have felt like a child that had just been denied a particularly tasty sweet when she managed to get away. _Alive_.

Ai shut the door close as her eyes clouded, shattering her usual cold façade for a few seconds. She got back to her bed and sat down again, as thoughts flooded her mind.

She had to thank _him _if she was still alive but....

'We got into trouble because of his naivety..' she thought, 'I warned him but of course, he wouldn't listen being the foolish detective he is.. '  
A week ago, walking back after school, she had spotted Gin's distinctive black Porche and Kudo had put a bug in it. They had followed Gin and Vodka with Agase's car, listening to their plans: the Organisation had sent an operative, called Pisco, to the memorial of a famous film-maker with the order to kill someone that attended it. Unfortunately, Gin had spotted the bug and crushed it while they were listening but Kudo had heard enough: Pisco and Gin had talked on the phone and had mentioned the poison. Kudo suspected that it was the Apotoxin and he decided to go to the memorial, find Pisco and get the poison from him. In this way, they would have the necessary data to make the counter-agent.

She had warned him: he was playing with fire. Gin and Vodka couldn't be fooled so easily and they didn't know who Pisco was but, as usual, Kudo said that nothing would have happened. He also suggested that she could have stayed in the car with Agase while he would have done everything on his own.

'He's just a cocky high school detective..' she had thought, 'He doesn't know what he's going against. He doesn't even realize the extent the Organisation is capable of...'

However, she had decided to go with him, much to his amusement and annoyance. Once again, she trusted his skills: he had said that he had been careful in placing the bug. No fingerprints or anything were left on it and there was only his saliva on the chewing gum but with that they could have tracked back only his blood group. She had also gone with him because she was the one that had created the poison. In addition to this, she didn't want him to think that she was a coward...

'That was my biggest mistake.' Ai thought sarcastically, 'I should have listened to Kudo for once.'

Gin knew that she was going to be there.

He had found a strand of her hair in the car and thought that it was her, Sherry, and only her that had put the bug and was following them. He knew that she would have attended the memorial and would have tried to get to Pisco if she thought he had the Apotoxin.

It was a trap. All set up to catch her, the traitor.

They went to the memorial of the famous filmmaker to find Pisco and get the Apotoxin but they couldn't stop him from committing the murder. After this, Kudo had agreed with her and they both decided to leave but, caught in the crowd of reporters, they got split. And Pisco took advantage of this: he caught her from behind and made her fall unconscious.

_"Ai-kun!"_

Ai snapped out of her thoughts as she heard her name. She only then realised that someone was knocking at the door.

_Furiously _knocking.

She got up and unlocked the door.

"Yes, Agase?" she said, eyeing the man in front of her.

"About time.... I'm going to the grocery store: there isn't much food left in the house." he explained, "I'll be back soon." Then, as an after thought, he asked, "Were you sleeping?"

"No, just thinking." was the short reply. Not wanting to ask more, Agase nodded and went downstairs. Ai heard the front door close a few minutes later.

Then, the house was completely silent.

Another child would have been nervous, if not scared of this: home alone at six in the evening, while it's getting dark and with the feeling that something might happen.

Ai, instead, felt quite relieved. She was used to silence and if something had to happen, at least, she would have been the only one to get involved.

She got her crutches and went downstairs, heading to the living room. Agase had received a whole set of magazines and had left them there. She would have spent the rest of the evening reading. It was surely better than mulling over past events, closed in her room.

'I'll go insane otherwise..' she thought.

Ten minutes later, Ai was sitting on the armchair, crutches by her side and magazine in her hand. To any casual observer, she seemed completely absorbed by her reading but if you looked at her carefully, you would have noticed her empty stare.  
'Coming to think of it..' she thought, 'It has all started with my nightmare..'

She had been dreaming of Gin and that he had caught her as she walked home after school. She had then caught a cold: she always fell sick whenever she felt very disturbed about something. And saying that the nightmare disturbed her was an understatement.

'Sherry.... Sherry..... _Sherry_!' his voice grew colder as he approached her, drawing out the gun and...

_"Haibara?"_

Ai whipped around and saw Conan Edogawa standing by the living room's door frame. The little boy with dark brown hair and cobalt blue eyes that wore thick glasses looked at her with slight dismay. For a few seconds, an expression torn between fear, surprise and alarm had flickered on the girl's face. But it was only a flash. For a moment, to tell the truth, he thought he had imagined it as he saw Haibara's usual cool, emotionless, slightly sarcastic, expression gaze at him.

"Kudo." she said, turning her gaze to the magazine, "What brings you here?"

"I'm pleased to see you too, Haibara." he replied sarcastically.

Ai hid a smirk as she glanced at him questioningly.

"I was out on a case with Ran and Kogoroh." he said with a hint of annoyance in his tone, as he mentioned the 'Great Sleeping Detective', "I thought I could come here to see how you're doing."

She looked up and stared at him.

'He was worried... for me?' she thought uncertainly. She then, noticed the skateboard behind his back.

"Very caring of you..." she remarked, turning to magazine once again, "But Agase's out for the moment, so if you want to recharge your skateboard, I think you should go in the lab: he left the charger there."

Conan's face flushed as she found out so soon why he was there. Ai failed to suppress a smirk.

"How are you, anyway?" he asked as his face turned to a normal colour.

"Worried for me, Kudo?" she asked ironically, instead of answering.

Conan rolled his eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself." he remarked and glanced at her. She had been shot by- how many? Five, six bullets? And despite that, she behaved in her usual detached way. He wondered if it was just an act.

"So, how are you?" he asked again.

Ai sensed a hint of concern in his tone and shot him the smallest of glances. He had given her his glasses, that time, because he was concerned for her...

"I'm fine as a person who is injured." she replied after a while.

Conan let out a snort of exasperation. Haibara was probably the only person he knew that could give you an ambiguous answer for the simplest of questions.

"Why don't you give me a straight answer?" he asked with annoyance, "For once."

"I'll keep that in my mind." she replied dryly, "I would hurry up if I were you. I don't think Mouri-san would want you caught in the shower."

Conan looked at her in confusion but was distracted when he heard a rumble and a sudden flash of light from outside.

"Great.. just what I needed." he muttered, "By the way, before I forget, I've managed to convince the kids that you have _really_ gone out for a while. They won't bother you for a few days."

The Detective Boys had been coming to Agase's house nearly every day in the past week. At the beginning, Conan had told them that Haibara was ill and the kids decided to go and visit her to see how she was doing. Agase blocked them downstairs, saying that they could get sick too while Ai locked herself in her room. In the past days, he told them that she had recovered and had gone to visit a relative. Ai had to close herself in the lab this time while the kids looked around for her.

"I see." she replied.

Silence fell upon them.

Without saying anything, Conan headed to the lab. He quickly found the cable that Agase used to charge his skateboard in lack of sunlight, connected it to the skate and waited. He had left the lab's door half open and could see Haibara sitting on the armchair.

Her previous expression came back to his mind.

'Did I startle her at that point?' he wondered, 'Or was she thinking of.. _them_?'

-

_"What's wrong with you?" he asked, as they hid behind a table, "Try to calm down. And remember that you insisted on coming with me."_

_He expected a witty retort and was slightly startled to see sadness on her face._

_"It's not my fault." she said, looking at the ground, "It's the effect of the nightmare.."_

_"What nightmare?" he asked, turning around to her._

_"I dreamed that Gin found me on the way home, after school. He forced me into a dark alley and, right afterwards, he shot you." Conan's eyes widened slightly and he stared at her as she went on. "One by one, all were shot. Always with the same terrible gun... All the people that I knew. Only because they had something to do with me.. just because they knew me."_

_Ai stopped, not noticing the expression on Conan's face, and a small, sad smile appeared on her face._

_"Maybe, it would have been better if I had died in the gas chamber." she said softly, "I would have avoided giving you all these problems."_

----:----

He put his glasses on her face. She still remembered the chill that ran down her spine as he gazed into her eyes.

-

_"You know, with those glasses you seem another person. Nobody will recognise you." Conan said, stepping back, "And I have to admit that you're not bad with them either."_

_She touched the glasses, slightly puzzled but gained her usual composure a few seconds later and looked at him coolly with a haughty smile._

_"Oh, really?" she asked, "And tell me, how will you go around without your precious glasses?"  
"Don't worry, I'll take care of myself." was the detective's cocky reply._

----:----

Conan went on staring at Haibara. He didn't know what to think of her.

Ai Haibara was the only person that he couldn't understand completely.

She was a puzzle that he couldn't figure out while she, much to his annoyance, seemed to know him pretty well. From the first day they had met, four-five months ago, he had only managed to see glimpses of her true character.

She was an introvert: you didn't have to be a detective to know it and she liked being on her own, thinking of God knows what or reading her magazines.

She never showed her real feelings: she hid them under a layer- no, _many _layers. Maybe, it was due to her past, to her life in the Black Organisation. Otherwise, he couldn't understand why she had built so many walls around her, isolating her from the rest of the world and all the people.

However, he had the... privilege, if he could say so, to witness the rare moments she showed her emotions. It had happened twice the very day they met.

A smirk appeared on the boy's face.

'Who would have thought that the little, sobbing girl I was walking home was an ex member of the Organisation and the very creator of the poison that shrank me?' he thought, 'She had taken the pill to kill herself but, as in my case, she just shrank.'

He remembered his panic as he dashed to Agase's house, thinking she had hurt him. His relief when he saw the old scientist safe and sound and then..

Conan felt a pang of guilt as he remembered the way he treated her.  
'She had come to my house because she wanted help. She thought I could understand how she felt, but I... I didn't even want to hear her. I just blamed her. I blamed her for everything: creating the poison, causing the death of many people, causing my shrinking.... being one of them. If Agase hadn't stopped me..'

He couldn't forget her face: shock, disappointment, guilt and pain. All those feelings flickered on her face, shattering her cool mask for a few seconds.

'How could I be so selfish?' he thought, 'I was angry and frustrated: I hardly knew anything about the Organisation, I didn't know how to catch them, and I was tired of being like this. Being.. Conan. I was also mad because I thought that the criminals we had met that day were members of the Organisation, instead they were only a gang of counterfeit criminals. I just wanted to vent my anger and frustration on someone... and I did it on her.'

That night, he found out that he had known her sister. Her name was Akemi Miyano but he knew her as Masami Hirota. The woman he had failed to save: she was her sister. Haibara cried in front of him, asking desperately why he hadn't saved her sister, despite the skills he had shown her, solving the case of the murdered professor.

'What could I reply? I just let her cry on my shoulder, without saying anything..'

His opinion on Haibara had changed since their first encounter. He didn't think she was a cold blooded murderer like Gin and he didn't think she was a criminal either, now that he knew how she had been forced to carry on the poison's project with the illusion of a free life with her sister. Illusion that had been shattered to pieces with Akemi's murder.

Conan wondered what Haibara must have felt. She had lost her only family, she was responsible, indirectly, of the deaths of many people and had the prospective of living the rest of her life working as a slave for the men that had killed her family.

Rather than doing this, she had tried to kill herself but since her own creation had betrayed her, she fled away, choosing to be a traitor and live a hidden life where she had to be careful of everything.

Compared to hers, his life as Conan was a holiday vacation.

'This explains why she's always so.. cool.. if not cold.' he thought. But he knew that inside, Haibara was a good person. Otherwise, he couldn't understand why she had wanted to help him, risking her life in the attempt.

-

_"Kudo, listen carefully, I have to tell you something very important. The prefix Apo of the medicine Apotoxin 4869 that has shrunk us, in ancient Greek means 'death' and I guess that you can get the clear message coming from it. The cells have a __self-destruction__ structure and they stay alive thanks to a signal that keeps this lethal mechanism under control."_

_"Yes, I understand." he said, talking through his earring phone, "But-"_

_"In other words.." Ai continued, cutting through his sentence and speaking through the __transceiver__ on the glasses, "This pill isn't only responsible of the 'Apothosis', that is death, but also leads to the activation of a hormone that increases the __efficiency__ of cellular multiplication."_

_"Cut it out now!" he exclaimed, "You will give me your nice, detailed science lesson later when you'll be out of there!"_

_"Shut up, Kudo." Ai retorted, "And listen to what I'm saying. The truth is that I..." Her eyes clouded. "The truth is that I won't have another chance to talk to you. This is the last time."_

_"What do you mean?!" he asked in dismay._

_"Let me finish." she replied, "I'll download all the data on the disk and hide it in a safe place so that you can find it later.." A sad, bitter smile flickered on her face. "When they will have finished with me.."_

_"Don't say these things!" he remarked, clutching the earring phone harder._

----:----

Shortly after, the liquor she had drunk, Paikaru, under Kudo's request, started to make effect on her. She reached for her chest as she remembered the heart-splitting pain she had felt while she turned back to her normal state.

'Kudo had been calling me..' she thought, 'Telling me that Gin and Vodka were coming. I just had the time to put on that clothes, take the disk and get into the chimney.. but he found me nevertheless..'

Gin had found a strand of her hair by the chimney and had heard her breathing heavily. He could have killed her but he had decided to wait. True to his utterly psychopathic mind, he had waited for her on the rooftop, despite the snow. He wanted to give her -how did he call it? Oh, yes, an outstanding end.

She had been shot seven times but she didn't give up: she couldn't give them the pleasure to see her in pain. Her blood boiled as she remembered Gin's taunt.

_"It's time to send her back to her dear elder sister."_

He had killed Akemi. And he wanted to kill her as well. But he didn't do it...

'Thanks to _him_..." Ai thought.

----:----

Agase had heard the whole conversation between Haibara -no, Miyano- and Gin and had referred everything to Conan. The boy was surprised of the girl's strength and will power.

'She was injured but didn't let out even one cry of pain.' he thought, 'And she managed to keep her usual sarcastic attitude too.'

He had really feared for her that day. Pisco had managed to leave the interrogation earlier than the other suspects. If he met Gin and Vodka on the way, they would know that Haibara had shrunk. Her last 'disguise' and shelter would have fallen. He was dashing towards the cellar when Agase called.

-

_"__**WHAT?**__" he exclaimed, "They're shooting at Haibara?"_

_"Yes, Shinichi-kun." Agase said, "Hurry up and get to her otherwise she-"_

_"Hello? __**Hello?**__ Professor? Damn batteries..." he said, thrusting the phone back in his pocket. He started to run even faster._

_'Ai.. I'm coming..!'_

_-_

He had rushed to the rooftop and came just in time. Haiba- Miyano was lying on the ground, obviously injured, judging by the blood around her and Gin was aiming the gun at her once again.

Conan just had the time to aim his stun gun at the man, freezing his right arm.

----:----

_"THE CHIMNEY!" Conan shouted through his bow-tie, using his voice: Shinichi Kudo's voice. "GET INTO THE CHIMNEY!"_

_Shiho managed to get up and wobbled to the chimney's top._

_"WHO'S THERE?" Vodka turned around and fired at the door. Conan hid behind the wall as the bullets struck the door._

_"HURRY UP!" he yelled._

_Vodka turned back and saw Sherry by the chimney. He fired and a bullet hit her shoulder, making her fall back down to the cellar._

_-_

Ai closed the magazine and put it away.

'Kudo saved my life twice that day. He solved the case, startling Pisco as he exposed his plan, telling how he murdered the man.' she thought, 'And then, as the cellar caught fire, he hauled me on his back since I had shrunk again and couldn't move for the fatigue and the wounds.'  
When they were back in the car, Agase told them that Gin had killed Pisco for failing to be discreet in his assassination. Fortunately, he didn't reveal that she had shrunk into a child but the disk with the data had gone lost in the fire. All the information that could have allowed her to make the counter-agent had gone lost.

Ai sighed and got up. Once again, she winced in pain. She got her crutches and headed to the kitchen.

----:----

Conan stood by the lab door, lost in his thoughts.

Haibara had said that she would have left as soon as her wounds would have healed. She said that she was a menace to Agase and him since the Organisation knew that she was in Beika now.

'I don't think that she should leave...' he thought, 'Well, maybe she could hide for while but I'm sure that they won't come here again. They will probably think that she has left now that they had seen her here.'

He snapped out of his reverie when he heard a soft beeping sound.

'The skateboard's charged.' he thought and quickly, unplugged the cable, putting it away. He took the skate and closed the door. He then glanced at the armchair but Haibara was not there.

He arched an eyebrow.

'She's very quiet, ok, but... how come I didn't notice that she had left?' he thought, 'I was by the door, after all.'

He left the skate near the lab and looked around. He headed to the staircase but the sudden noise of glass smashing to pieces made him turn around to kitchen and not to the upper floor as he had first suggested. He dashed to the kitchen and finally found Haibara.

He registered five things at the first look: water on the floor, glass pieces on the ground, Haibara on her knees, crutches on the floor and blood. His brain quickly put the pieces together as he approached her. Someone -Agase for sure, he thought- hadn't closed the refrigerator well, judging by the stream of melted ice on the fridge and the small pond in the middle of the kitchen. Haibara hadn't noticed it and had slipped; well, her crutches slipped, making her fall on her knees and the glass she was carrying fell down with her. She had a few cuts on her right hand and they were probably due to the fact that she instinctively put her hand down to keep in balance and had put it right on the glass pieces.

"Haibara!" he said, kneeling down to her, "Are you all right?"

"Do I look all right?" she asked through gritted teeth. She was in pain but she wasn't going to show it. Not even to him.

Conan frowned slightly but didn't reply. Instead he helped her get up.. or at least, he tried.

"I can get up myself, Kudo." she said sharply, "Leave me alone." She hastily got up and winced for her previous wounds and for the sharp pain coming from her hand.

Ai wasn't mean: she truly appreciated that he wanted to help her but she was used in doing everything on her own. Without anyone's help. Well, today she would have learned that this rule couldn't be applied to Conan Edogawa/Shinichi Kudo.

"_For heaven's sake Haibara! _Why don't you just accept my aid without snapping at me?" he exclaimed with a tone that was half angry and half annoyed, "For once, at least. Am I asking too much?"

Ai was actually astonished. She stared at him, excepting to see anger or annoyance in his eyes, instead she saw concern.

'He's worried.. for me?' she wondered. He stared back at her and Ai felt heat on her face: she broke eye contact and moved to her right, balancing on her already injured leg. She staggered and was risking to fall again but Conan was there this time.

He stepped in front of her and she fell on him. He grabbed her gently by the shoulders, knowing that she had wounds on both of them.

"Why are you always so damn stubborn?" he muttered. Ai was glad that her bangs covered her face and hid her red cheeks.

"Come on." he said, holding her up with his right arm. Ai didn't resist him this time. They got to the living room and Ai sat on the couch while Conan disappeared in the kitchen again. He came back ten minutes later, carrying her crutches.

"I've cleared everything." he said, "And I've also mopped the floor. How is your hand?"

"It's nothing." she said, opening her palm.

'For once, she's cooperative.." Conan thought and looked at her hand: there were a few small cuts.

"Where does Agase keep the first aid kit?" he asked.

"In the bathroom cupboard." she replied, "First shelf."

Conan went to get it. A few moments later, Ai heard a "I've found it." and he appeared holding a small white box. He carefully cleaned her cuts, checking if there were glass pieces and then bandaged her hand. While he was concentrated on doing this, Ai looked at him.

He was the one that had witnessed her sister's death.

The one that had experimented her poison.

He was the one that should hate her for having ruined his life.

Why was he helping her?

"Why-? she asked softly. But Conan heard it nevertheless.

"Hmm?" he said, looking up, as he closed the box.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked a bit louder.

"Well, the cuts are small but they could infect." he replied.

Ai smirked. He was the usual clueless detective.

"What now?" he asked in annoyance, noticing her smirk.

She slowly got to her feet and took her crutches.

"It's not raining anymore." she remarked, glancing at the window. He looked out and nodded slowly. Ai was heading to the door.

"Haibara?" he called. She slowly turned around and looked at him. "I think you should stay here."

"I have a room, Kudo and it's more comfortable than the living room."

"Er-no.. I didn't mean this." he remarked, slightly embarrassed, for the misunderstanding.

"What did you mean then?"

"You said that you would have left once your wounds would have healed. Well, I think you should stay."

True to her character, Ai kept a neutral expression despite the wave of emotions that surged in her. At the end, however, two contrasting feelings inside her made her doubt.

"Why?" she asked.

"You would be safer here than.. who knows where." he replied, "I'm sure Agase will be glad if you stayed."

"What about you, Kudo?"

"Me? What's...what's this got to do with me?" he stammered, blushing.

Ai turned to face him.

"I've told you this the first day we met." she said, "Are you sure you want to have me by your side? I'm like a time bomb that wills to explode at the slightest touch: are you sure to want me here?"

Conan was about to reply but she silenced him with her stare and went on.  
"Listen, I'm the one that created the APTX-4869. It's because of me if you are in this state. My only objective, once I settled here, was to make the antidote. I had the necessary data in my hands but, as you know, the disk has gone destroyed. What purpose do I have now? Why should I stay? I'll leave as soon as I will be able to do it but don't worry, Kudo. I'll go away but I will keep on working on the counter agent. As soon as I'll get it, I will send it to you and you will go back to your life. You won't have to take care of me."  
She looked down, so that he couldn't see the pain in her eyes. Conan, on the other hand, looked confused. Suddenly, a look of dawning comprehension appeared on his face.  
"Hey.. wait a minute.." he said slowly, "_You _think that I am worried for you and that I helped you only because you're making the antidote?"  
Bewilderment was clearly drawn on his face. Ai just nodded slowly without even looking up. Thousands of questions rushed through his mind but at the end, Conan asked quietly: "Why?"  
"Why not?" she asked, still looking down, "I'm just the criminal that has ruined your life. I'm a member of the Organisation. Why should someone be worried for me? Who would care if I left?"  
Ai quickly regretted to have said this. She didn't want to hear his answer. He couldn't contradict her: she had only said the truth. And she didn't want to hear this truth from _him_.

"Don't you ever think that there are people that actually care for you?"

Ai looked up and stared at Conan: he was gazing back at her, hands in his pockets. She just smirked mirthlessly.

"I've lost everything the day my sister died." she said simply, "I am alone, Kudo, and I'm not disillusioning myself of the opposite."

Silence fell between them.

Ai turned around, balancing on her crutches.

"I suppose you'll be leaving now.." she remarked and headed to the staircase that lead upstairs, leaving Conan alone. She stopped when he spoke again.

"Baka, you're not alone."

Ai turned around abruptly and stared at Conan. Again. He simply stared back at her but there was an amount of tenderness and sincerity in his eyes that Ai felt herself blush. He had never shown so much concern or open interest on her before. Conan smiled slightly.

"You're not alone." he said again, "There's Professor, the three kids and... me. I am concerned for you, not because you're the only one that could make the antidote, but because you're a friend and I care for you. I helped you for the same reason last time." He approached her. "And I really think you should stay here: maybe you should hide for a while but.. don't leave."

Ai just looked at him.

"So-?" he asked, after a while. "What have you decided?"

She didn't reply immediately since she was still... shocked.

He cared.

He didn't hate her and hadn't helped her just because she was the only one that could give him his old life back.

"All right, I'll take your advice." she said, turning around, "I will stay here."

"Good." he remarked and picked up his skateboard. He walked to the front door while Ai headed upstairs.

'Maybe...' she thought uncertainly, slowing down, 'I should-' She seemed to struggle with herself in taking such a decision. But a few moments later..

"Kudo?"

"Hmm?" Conan said. He turned around and saw Haibara standing by the staircase. She was giving him her back but turned her head around.

"Thank you." she said simply, shooting him a small smile.

Conan blushed and Ai turned back and slowly went upstairs on her crutches. When he was alone, Conan had a sudden flash of Haibara in her true state and a faint blush crept on his cheeks again.

"Shiho.. Miyano." he whispered as he heard a door closing upstairs. Conan smiled to himself and left the house, closing the front door behind him.

She had shown him gratitude.

It was the first step.

* * *

Another extremely old fic that has been edited.

Please, review!!!


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